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Is Any Amount of Gluten Safe for Those with Celiac Disease?
Celiac Disease is essentially an autoimmune disorder that is triggered by eating foods containing gluten, which is in wheat, rye, and barley products. While there are blood tests to detect the disease, the true confirmation of the diagnosis requires doing a biopsy of several sites in the small bowel. If the villi in the small bowel show damage, the diagnosis is confirmed.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: does it exist?
There's been a fair amount of coverage in the health news on recent research into non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). A study that appeared to confirm the existence of NCGS was refuted by a later study, performed by the same team. Their conclusion was that despite their earlier research, they could find no evidence that non-celiac gluten sensitivity exists.

Got IBS? You Might Have Celiac Disease
We don't know exactly what causes Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Those with IBS often have stomach pain, bloating and diarrhea, and their symptoms come and go: people with IBS can go for some time without symptoms and then have flare-ups. The guidelines that doctors use to diagnose IBS vary from country to country and even professional association to professional association.

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Is it Really Gluten-Free?

In my column, "10 Things you Need to Know About Reading Food Labels,"
I explain the FDA rules on labeling foods things like "no cholesterol,"
"low-calorie," or "more fiber." The FDA is now considering a proposed
rule regarding the labeling of foods as gluten-free, under the Food
Allergen and Consumer Protection Act. This would work much like the
"no cholesterol" rule, in which a label can state "corn oil margarine,
a no cholesterol food," because ALL corn oil margarines do not contain
cholesterol. Foods with
a single ingredient, such as a non-wheat grain like millet, could
then carry a gluten-free label because millet does not contain wheat
gluten.

But what if these foods might be contaminated during processing, or even
in the field? Schar, a food manufacturer spec\ializing
in gluten-free foods (we've reviewed some of their foods, including
a gluten-free pizza crust), worked with an independent nutritional
consultant to gauge the amount of gluten contamination, if any, in
foods that under the proposed rule would be considered gluten-free
(J Am Diet Assoc 2010;110(6):937-940).

The consultant purchased 22 grains, seeds and flours from local grocery
stores or by mail order, then without opening the products, had them
sent to a company that specializes in analyzing for gluten content,
using a standardized test.

The international standard for considering a food gluten-free is less
than 20 parts per million (ppm). Of the 22 tested foods, 13 of these
foods registered less than 5 ppm of gluten, meaning that they are
legitimately gluten-free, even though 3 were labeled with an allergen
statement indicating that they might be contaminated.

Nine of the 22 foods contained unacceptable amounts of gluten, ranging
from 8.5 ppm to 2,925 ppm. Only four of these were labeled with a
gluten contamination advisory statement, however.

Even though all of the foods tested would, under the proposed FDA rule,
be able to be labeled "a gluten-free food," Schar's analysis
demonstrates that not all of these foods would be considered gluten-free
according to accepted testing standards.

What this means for you

While this is a very small study and is somewhat suspect due to its funding
by a company that produces gluten-free foods, it is certainly cause
for some caution. If you have Celiac disease and are concerned about
cross-contamination in foods such as millet, buckwheat flour, soy
flour, cornmeal, or other non-wheat flours, look for a statement
that the food is tested and confirmed gluten-free.